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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22439470">Lover Girl</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infiniteleft/pseuds/Infiniteleft'>Infiniteleft</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>One Foot Forward [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! Sunshine!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Bittersweet Ending, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Romance, Sneaking Out</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:15:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,288</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22439470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infiniteleft/pseuds/Infiniteleft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Snippets of the time where Riko and Dia stop circling eachother, and instead wonder how many of their friends are catching on to them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kurosawa Dia/Sakurauchi Riko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>One Foot Forward [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1614667</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Sneaking Out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Full disclaimer: these are side bits of a much, much larger project going on, which may or may not finally be begin to be posted in another month or two. We'll see.</p><p>They can absolutely be read alone, however. The point of this was a writing challenge, to limit myself to writing only five paragraphs (not including one off sentences, since they're good for flow) of a coherent story, so they should hold up without it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Riko. Riiiiiko."</p><p>Riko woke to a faint brush of fingers trekking along her cheek. Before she even opened her eyes, she smiled at the hair being tucked behind her ear. "Good morning," she mumbled. It felt like she'd been chewing on sand. Gross.</p><p>Still, the touch came again with a light peck on her eyebrow. "Good morning. I'm going to be late if you don't get up." That got her started, and she peeked up at the turquoise eyes watching her with an amused lilt. "Could you let me go, please?"</p><p>"Hn?" Riko blinked, sleep clinging with unchecked power to her. She looked down. Oh. Reluctantly, she unlatched herself from her girlfriend's waist. This was her least favorite part of Dia sneaking over, having to release her and pretend there had been no one here at all.</p><p>Dia pressed another kiss to her temple, shuffling out of the bed as quietly as she could manage. The older girl crept over to the balcony, creaking it open while on the watch for Chika.</p><p>Somehow, their friend hadn't spotted her yet, even though Dia's visits were something of a common occurrence. Dia had chuckled when she mentioned it, waving it off as hard won experience on the matter. And experienced she was; Riko watched her slip over the railing and climb down, disappearing out of sight. Regret lingered.</p><p>Eventually, she promised, she'd wake up to a sunrise with her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Thwarted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dia thinned her lips, watching Riko's retreating figure in the doorway out of the corner of her eye. She didn't like how she was being avoided -- and make no mistake, the student council president knew avoidance when she saw it. What on Earth had scared the girl so badly she wouldn't even meet her eyes for more than a beat? A frown grew as she tapped her pen against the desk. This needed to be addressed before it became something worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead had been acting off for the past couple of days, ever since, well… The Incident (capitalized, trademarked, and spoken with the most dramatic voiceover her mental voice could give). Her, Riko, and a closet full of unfortunate timings… she shuddered to think of it. Suspicion kindled, though she was quick to extinguish it. Riko of all people wouldn't expose her secret.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So why was she acting strange?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That did it. Dia rose sharply, determined to find her. Pushing her way out into the hall, she sped along towards the club room. Riko could usually be found there around now, right? She checked her phone. Yep. Her pace quickened. A busy powerwalk couldn't be mistaken for running, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, she came to her destination. With a deep breath, she snapped the door open -- and was met by Yoshiko and Chika alone, who looked up at her sudden appearance. They waved. "At last, she appears," Yoshiko droned, "freed from her mortal bindings of schoolwork. Here to aid us, Dia-san?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I was looking for Riko, actuall- what are you two doing?" All thoughts of the second-year were abandoned at the sight of what could only be described as an army of… of… were those tiny people?! Dia blinked. No, it wasn't a dream, for they were still there. Pinching didn't work either. Chika at least looked remorseful at the sight."I-- the only aid I will be offering you two is cleaning whatever mess this is up!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So much for that. She'd have to find Riko later.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey. Past. Guess what. I now have a writing blog. I yell a bit about my fics there. It's also where you can find Dia-nial's outline, cause I'll be sharing it at some point. It might be with each chapter. It might be after I finish it. Who knows!</p><p>https://infiwrites.tumblr.com/</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. What It Is</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*laughs in lesbian fear of being disowned by your loved ones*</p><p>CW: very, very explicitly implied homophobia.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Riko found herself sharing a look with Dia. Had the others noticed yet? She didn't know. Trying to gauge what everyone's reaction would be ranged from exhausting (Kanan) to downright terrifying (Dia's father) and if anyone was catching on… she didn't know what price they'd pay. She didn't know if they could pay it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chika had given Dia some very close scrutiny when she'd shown up to practice in Riko's shirt. Frankly, Riko had a heart attack when she realized that Chika was capable of recognizing her clothes a lot better than she could. She'd tried to come up with an explanation and absolutely fumbled with the ball, until Dia had cut in with embarrassment that couldn't be all faked, blithely lying through her teeth about some sort of accident with her own clothes. How kind was Riko to offer her own wardrobe in an emergency?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The question that Riko had, though, was why and how Dia was so good at lying about something like that when she generally couldn't keep a secret to save her life. Which might have been the reason she was still awake in Dia's arms overthinking the implications of that question. It was Dia who was most adamant about remaining in the closet. It was Dia who had a reputation to maintain, or so her girlfriend argued.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn't describe what she was feeling as she worried over all the uncertainties. All the what if, and where to go. Who she could trust if worst came to worst? Would Chika be willing to take in two… two… the two of them, as they were?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Riko thought of Ruby. Truth be told, that was where she was willing to place her money on why Dia was so afraid. It would be so hard to lose her parents, for sure, but Dia was ever strong-willed. She might worry over her reputation, but if push ever came to shove, she knew where her heart lied. But Ruby… if Dia ever lost Ruby…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grief, she realized. That was what they feeling. It was grief.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Rain, Rain, Come To Play</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Through the trees, Riko could hear the rain on the roof, on the leaves, the gentle splashes on the ground. While the storm wasn't unexpected, it <em>did</em> mean she was woefully unprepared to go home. Curled up next to Dia on the floor under her window, she rested her head on her shoulder. Dia's strong, beautiful mezzo came to a stop, and she felt her… her… her crush's head turn (because there was no way that they were girlfriends, was there?) and Riko felt a wash of embarrassment. She was about to apologise when Dia rested her cheek over her hair.</p><p>Oh. This was nice. Maybe she should take the initiative a little more often.</p>
<hr/><p>Riko must've been more tired than she thought, because the next thing she knew she was blinking sleep out of her eyes as Dia nudged her. "-ko. Riko, it's time to get up. You can't stay here for the entire night." When Riko stopped scrubbing at her face, she could see the remorse in her eyes.</p><p>"Is it still raining? Oh, no…" Getting soaked was not exactly ideal. Or a pleasant thought. No, in autumn weather, the rain would be <em>freezing.</em> She was going to have to borrow an umbrella, huh? She told Dia as much. The other girl stared at her before shaking her head.</p><p>"You're going to catch a cold if you go out in just that, Riko." Dia stood up, letting the blanket fall away from her shoulders. "At least let me give you something to layer with."</p><p>"Won't the others get suspicious?!"</p><p>Click, squeak. Dia opened her closet. "Not if you don't let yourself be caught in it. Letting you go out in just is irresponsible. So," she looked back over at Riko with a warm glint, "if you don't tell anyone… you can wear this."</p><p>Before Riko could ask what she meant, Dia had thrown something at her. It landed on her head. Reaching up with an indignant whine, she pulled it off. Oh. Oh. That's what she meant… Holding the pom-pom adorned sweater-dress to her chest, she gawked. "I-- are you sure?"</p><p>"Certainly. Besides, it'll be cute on you. Just… make sure you bring it back soon, okay?"</p>
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